LAND BIRDS. 655 
Family 64. MOTACILLIDA. Wagtails. 
Represented in Michigan by a single species, the Titlark. 
299. Titlark. Anthus rubescens (Tunstall). (697) 
Synonyms: Pipit, American Pipit, American Titlark, Prairie Titlark, Hudsonian 
Wagtail.—Alauda rubescens, Tunstall, 1771.—Alauda, pensilvaniea, Lath., 1787.—Anthus 
pensylvanicus, Thien., 1849, and many others.—Anthus ludovicianus, Licht., 1823, and 
most subsequent authors until 1884.—Anthus pensilvanicus, Stejn., 1884, A. O. U. Check- 
list, 1886, and later authors. 
Plate LXIV. 
A slender, active and inconspicuous little bird, commonly found in 
scattered flocks on the ground in open wet places in spring and fall; brownish 
gray above and creamy or buffy-white below, streaked with brownish 
black on breast and sides, and with two outer pairs of tail-feathers showing 
much white. The bill is slender like a warbler’s, but the claw of the hind 
toe is longer than any Warbler’s—as long at least as the toe itself. 
Distribution.—North America at large, breeding in the higher parts of 
the Rocky Mountains and in sub-arctic districts, and wintering in the 
Gulf States, Mexico and Central America. 
The Titlark is a common migrant, spring and fall, in most parts of the 
state, but appears to be but little known to the average observer. Doubt- 
less every snipe hunter and most duck hunters are perfectly familiar with 
the bird itself without knowing its name. 
It arrives from the south early in May, the earliest record given by 
Mr. Wood at Ann Arbor being May 4, 1893, and its period of greatest 
abundance in the spring is from that time until about May 15, when it 
passes northward beyond our limits. It reappears in the fall about the 
middle of September and remains until the ground freezes in November. 
Mr. Swales states that near Detroit it sometimes appears in large flocks 
in April and October, but is seldom noted later than November first. 
A single specimen was killed on Spectacle Reef Light, Lake Huron, Sep- 
tember 23, 1889. 
It confines itself to open country entirely, showing a marked preference 
for wet fields and bogs, especially such as are frequented by Wilson’s 
Snipe. In autumn it is often seen, however, on comparatively dry plowed 
ground as well as in upland pastures and stubble fields. Usually it occurs 
in scattered flocks, from a dozen to fifty individuals being distributed 
over a space of a dozen acres, and when one is started several take flight, 
but even when fifty are on the wing they never collect into a solid flock, 
but fly in extended order. When feeding the birds run about rapidly 
on the ground, very much like sandpipers, and tilt and flirt the tail much 
like the water-thrushes and some shore birds. When flushed they rise 
very quickly to a considerable height, mounting by great leaps with their 
powerful wings, and constantly uttering | their sharp double-syllabled 
call which gives the bird its name of “Pipit.” We do not recall ever 
seeing one alight on a bush or tree and they seldom make use of a wire or 
fence-post. : ; ; 
The food appears to consist mainly of worms, insects and such other 
